National Library of Australia

ROUTINE DIGITISATION PRIORITIES AND TARGETS 2006-2007

Total number of collection items digitised target 9,500 items

Collections are selected for digitisation in line with the Library’s Collection Digitisation Policy. The collections identified for digitisation in 2006-2007are outlined in the following table.

Pictures (nla.pic) less than A3 size6,900

The pictures material to be digitised in 2006-2007 will include both recent and previously acquired collection materials.

It is anticipated that digitisation of the following Pictures collections will be completed in their entirety in 2006-2007:

Florenz Bleeser Collection

Arnold Thomas Boxing Collection

Charles Ulm National Aviation Collection

E.A Crome Collection of photographs on Aviation

Cyril Ritchard Collection of Theatrical Performance and Personal Photographs, 1880-1946

NB. As per the Library’s Collection Digitisation Policy, collections are generally digitised in their entirety. There are however, some types of material that are excluded from digitisation. These include:

  • Duplicates, e.g. the collection contain both a photographic print and a negative of the same image. In this case only one item is digitised;
  • Items which cannot be made available online due to copyright restrictions or the nature of the content, e.g. indigenous or adult content;
  • Items deemed as having low significance e.g. non-Australian content, photocopies, photographs from books, unidentifiable landscapes or people, images of poor quality.

The total number of items identified is greater than the target for pictures material, as this allows for a degree of flexibility in managing priorities and resources.

Work will be undertaken on the Wolfgang Sievers Photographic Archiveand Geoffrey Pryor collection of cartoons and drawings as lower priority background tasks.

Picture Collection Details / Number to be digitised / Selection for Digitisation
Small miscellaneous new acquisitions
(Collections of less than 100 items acquired through purchase or donation) / 500 / Collections to be digitised in their entirety with standard exclusions.
“Easy to capture" commercial and internal orders / 200 / Collection items requested through Copies Direct or for an internal requirement that are less than A3 in size and able to be captured using a flat-bed scanner.
Large Pictures collections
(Collections greater than 100 items. Material may be acquired through purchase or donation and may be recent or previously acquired collections) / Collections to be digitised in their entirety with standard exclusions.
Eric Milton Nicholls collection

2,500 drawings, lithographs, photographs, negatives, transparencies, glass lantern slides and postcards
Florenz Bleeser collection
230 19th Century glass negatives
Arnold Thomas boxing collection

ca. 2,200 photographs
Charles Ulm National Aviation Collection

522 photographs + 22 objects
J.C. Williamson collection
Photographs of Australian theatrical productions

ca. 4,250 photographs, negatives & transparencies
E.A. Crome collection of photographs on aviation

ca.1,000photographs, nitrate negatives & glass negatives
Cyril Ritchard collection of theatrical performance and personal photographs, 1880-1946

6 albums containing 685 photographs
Matilda collection
Satire of politics & society in the 1980s from the Matilda Magazine

ca. 770 cartoons and photographs
Wolfgang Sievers photographic archive

ca, 65,400 prints, photographs, negatives & transparencies
Geoff Pryor collection of cartoons and drawings

4,280 cartoons and drawings / 2,000
230
700
400
1,000
1,000
685
650 / Work on this collection commenced in 05-06.
456 items from this collection have been digitised as at 1 July 2006.
Some material will have online access restricted due to indigenous content.Digitisation of this collection will be completed in its entirety in 06-07.
Work on this collection commenced in 05-06.
330 items from this collection have been digitised as at 1 July 2006.
Digitisation of this collection will be completed in its entirety in 06-07.
Digitisation of this collection will be completed in its entirety in 06-07.
1,120 items from this collection have been digitised as at 1 July 2006.
Digitisation of this collection will be completed in its entirety in 06-07.
Digitisation of this collection will be completed in its entirety in 06-07.
120 items from this collection have been digitised as at 1 July 2006.
4,900 items from this collection have been digitised as at 30 June 2006. Work will be undertaken on this collection as a lower priority background task.Duplicate images will be identified and excluded.
Donation of drawings is received annually by the Library. Work will be undertaken on this collection as a lower priority background task.

Maps (nla.map)1,300 items

In 2006-2007 work will continue on cataloguing and digitising the Library’s map collections. This will include completion of the Tooley and Ferguson collections and continuation of the Rare Mapcollection.

The following table presents the intended progress of digitisation of the Rare Maps Series.

Rare Map Series / Size of collection / Number of items digitised to date / Estimated Completion date
Nan Kivell / 860 / 860 / completed
Ferguson (FRM) / 915 / 913 / 2006-07
Tooley (T) / 1643 / 1640 / 2006-07
Rare Map (RM) / Approx 3937 / 1764 / 2007-08
London Missionary Society(LMS) / 15 / 14 / 2006-07

Australian printed music (nla.mus)800items

In 2006-2007 work will continue on digitising the Library’s printed sheet music collection. This will include albums published before 1900, albums published between 1900 and 1930, sheet music published between 1931 and 1950. All newly acquired sheet music which is out of copyright will also be routinely digitised.

The following table presents the collections identified for digitisation in 2006-2007.

Collection / number to be digitised
Pre-1900 owner bound albums / 85
Australian albums pre-1900, 1900-1930 / 200
Australian sheet music 1931-1940, 1941-1950 / 500
Ballets Russesorchestral scores / 15

15 unpublished orchestral scores will be digitised as part of the National Library of Australia’s contribution to the Ballets Russes project. See:

800 pieces of sheet music is a minimum target for 2006-2007 and could potentially be overachieved due to the less complex nature of this material.

Manuscripts (nla.ms)500 items

Manuscript digitisation for 2006-2007comprises the ongoing digitisation of the Papers of Alfred Deakin, 1804-1973, which is a collaborative project being undertaken with Deakin University.

Digitisation of Series 9: Victorian Minister, 1884-1897will be completed in 2006-2007. This series contains correspondence, notes, memoranda, reports, certificates, programs, menus, a photograph, press clippings and other printed material. There is some correspondence and general items relating to Deakin's activities as a Minister in Victoria, but apart from this, most of the material concerns Deakin's work as Chief Secretary and his visit to London as a Victorian delegate to the Colonial Conference of 1887. Among the general correspondents are R.M. Collins, David Davies, J.L. Dow, Sir Sandford Fleming, James Graves, Richard Hain, Jules Joubert, Lord Knutsford, James Mirams, John Quick, Richard Richardson, William Uren, R.S. Walpole and William T. Webb.

A Guide to the Papers of Alfred Deakin held by the National Library is available at:

1